What would Kier Hardy ...

... have thought about our wannabe emperor's new clothes lectern ?

Carwyn Jones needs a ...

... £1800 podium and the £4500 Welsh slate emblem on the wall together with flags, missing were the trumpets and soldiers at attention when he made a grand entrance ... 

... he, is it Mr President or Carwyn Jones these days, was reported by Betsan Powys as saying "We kept costs to a minimum".

On the other hand, a century ago Kier Hardy speaks to the people with little more than relevance ....

... whilst Carwyn Jones needs a lectern to speak to the press ( are they children to pump up the numbers in the audience I wonder) , he needs to grip the sides to stop himself from falling in excitement ...

... but he just doesn't cut it like President Obama, relaxed, at ease with himself and the world that knows who he is, with or without a lectern ...

... there can be no doubt our First Minister, how soon before he calls himself Prime Minister or President, has illusions of grandeur, to the little people of Wales he is the King who wears no clothes ...

What's next I wonder, maybe a limousine but to keep up with President Obama Wales would need its very own ...

... Secret Service Presidential Protective Division ...

It's a bit too much over breakfast ..........

IDEA from Harvard ...

... that Carwyn Jones and Co. could adopt;  the "IDEA" brand developed for non-profit sector at Harvard, it stands for ...

... brand "integrity"
... brand "democracy"
... brand "ethics"
... brand "affinity"

The Labour Party certainly has the pedigree, and then there are the deeds, no-one can deny them the deeds that helped shape social justice in Britain.

A Welsh IDEAL, a Welsh Labour IDEA ........

First posted at the BBC David Cornock.

In England the government is ...

... championing choice for the citizens.

Minister for Government Policy Oliver Letwin said:

The one size fits all provision of the past, where people got what they were given unless they were wealthy enough to opt out is consigned to history. In a mature democracy such as ours, people must be given the right to choose the services they want and who to provide them. They should have open access to information so they can make informed decisions and be able to take control of their own lives.

In Wales we remain stuck in the past ..........

.......... where even after death your wishes go with you to the grave, poor government !

Organ donation with WAG is another ...

... dogs dinner.


The basic proposal ......

Opt-out systems are characterised as hard or soft:

1. ... in a hard opt-out system the removal and use of organs and tissues is permissible unless the deceased objected during his or her lifetime;
2. ... in a soft opt-out system the removal and use of organs and tissues is also permissible unless the deceased objected during his or her lifetime, but after death relatives are involved in the decision making process around donation.

The Welsh Government is proposing a soft opt-out system for Wales.

So at a stroke this parody of administration will take away my wishes Post-mortem.


What price democracy, what price moral autonomy, what next from our second division politicians at Cardiff Bay.

At a stroke they have lost this organ donor.

At BBC Wales there has been a general debate, it seems opposition to this proposed legislation is shared with many others, the debate has stopped, but the sentiments remain as a record.

... the governance of Carwyn Jones seems ...

... to be stepping up a notch, no windbag rhetoric that emanates from the combined orifices of the other "forlorn hope" parties languishing at the bottom of the Wales political pile, and "the proof of the pudding is in the eating".

.... in this case the pudding is the newly announced project in Cardiff that will provide 700 much needed homes.  Other political parties will read this and weep, in the run-up to the local elections next month this is proof positive that Labour is working for all the peoples of Wales, without fear or favour ...

... and at the next Wales Assembly election Carwyn will be able to walk the new streets of the project and introduce the people housed by the project as a Labour success, I think the message might be ...

..... come on in, its good with Labour !

Politics in wales ...

... is a little like the inside of a teenagers head !

Woolly, without substance or a credible plan, that moves in a circular manner ......

So where do you throw an idea, not an original idea, a borrowed idea from another part of the world that fills a very urgent need in "Business UK".

Do you share it with our regional political parties, our Welsh Assembly Government .........

... Labour in power, do we send a note or email to ( correspondence.edwina.hart@wales.gsi.gov.uk ) the Business, Enterprise, Technology and Science minister Edwina Hart Assembly Member ((MBE, OStJ, that's a fourth grade award that could match her political abilities, yes she has taken to adding her medals of honour); unfortunately this politician pays lip-service to the world of commerce, she is on record as proposing re-visiting the world of Karl Marks.  So Wales is sidestepped and off to Westminster we go.

After leaving the rarefied world of left wing Wales politics it comes as quite a shock to walk through doors to The Palace of Westminster, only to be met by a veritable wall of confusion, inside this confusion the hubris shown by the politicians of Westminster beggars belief, they constantly try to make sense of (British) life in order to impose its narrow political view on the peoples (of the United Kingdom), and most recently the government has failed at every turn because it was forced to compromise.

If politics fails, where next ?

Going right to where I began ...

... the Valley Orchard black mission figs, the Scharffen Berger chocolate or the organic garden mint, I chose each ingredient to compliment and enhance the natural goodness of Laloo's ® Goat's Milk Ice Cream.

... how would "Dai the Drag Bevan" (a work colleague from Swansea), a lifetime vegetarian, finance his Cwm Tawe (Swansea Valley) Goat's Milk Ice Cream Company, where would he go for finance that would fit in with the very seasonal nature of his idea ?

... he might consider  :

                                                ... to be continued !

Divergence, can we live ...

... with it, particularly when our neighbours are getting better results for the same tax dollars !

Today in the Sunday Times reporter James Charles writes of a £1 billion boost for housebuilding that seeps across Offa's Dyke ...

DAVID CAMERON is to use £ 1 billion of taxpayers’ money to guarantee thousands of risky mortgages in an effort to kick- start a housing market recovery and boost the construction of new homes. Under a government scheme to be launched tomorrow, banks will be encouraged to offer mortgages to borrowers with only a 5% deposit, provided they use the money to buy new-build flats and houses worth up to £500,000.

The housing minister, Grant Shapps, has said that up to 100,000 first-time buyers and home movers will be helped by the Newbuy scheme over the next three years.

However, loans on new homes are notoriously risky, and banks hate lending more than 75% of the value — so the government has had to underwrite the risk to persuade them to take part.  It means up to £1 billion of taxpayers’ money will be used to protect banks against losses if buyers default on their loans.  The scheme is a calculated bet that increasing demand for homes will provide a quick economic boost.

This is Westminster working for Wales.

Then we have Osborne bringing down corporation tax to 20%

GEORGE OSBORNE is to signal more cuts in corporation tax in the budget, setting out a plan to reduce it to 20%, significantly lower than other large western economies. Treasury sources say the chancellor is determined to give priority to business in his speech on March 21, despite political pressure to use it to announce populist tax changes

Osborne has already cut corporation tax. It was 28% when he took power, is now 25%, and will shrink to 23% over this parliament. He is expected to set a new target of 20% for later years.  America has a basic rate of 35%, and France 33.3%. In Germany it is 15% but additional social taxes mean an effective rate of more than 30%. Ireland, which lures multinationals with low taxes, takes 12.5%.

Other business-friendly measures from Osborne will include details of infrastructure and credit-easing plans outlined in the autumn statement. Treasury officials have been working on the credit-easing plan — a government guarantee that will both make available and cut the cost of loans to small and medium-sized firms — and have reached agreements with most of the banks. The scheme is said to be ready to proceed from budget day.

This is Westminster working for Wales.

Now what about business confidence ?

GKN is in advanced talks for an ambitious £800m deal to buy Sweden’s biggest aerospace company.  The FTSE 100 engineering group is set to swoop on Volvo’s aircraft business, which makes engines and components for the world’s largest aerospace and defence manufacturers.  If GKN clinches the deal, it would represent one of the biggest acquisitions by a British manufacturing company since the banking crisis.

.... The move to snap up the Volvo division is a sign of the confidence running through Britain’s manufacturing sector. It could also mark the start of a deal spree in the industrial sector, likely to be led by American giants such as GE, Dover and Honeywell, that have built up huge war chests during the economic slowdown.  GKN employs 40,000 people in more than 30 countries. It is a supplier of aircraft components to both Airbus and Boeing and makes parts for most of the big carmakers.  The company raced into pole position for the Volvo business after MTU Aero Engines, Germany’s leading engine maker, dropped out of the auction. Other bidders included the buyout groups Carlyle and Nordic Capital.
Volvo put its aero engine business up f or sale in November. The division makes the RM12 engine for Saab’s Gripen fighter jets, used by the Swedish military, as well as supplying engine components to the three main jet engine manufacturers — Rolls-royce, GE and Pratt & Whitney.  GKN’S aerospace division is its biggest after Automotive, the car parts unit. It recorded sales of £1.5 billion in 2011.  The group l ast month reported a 15% increase in fullyear pre-tax profits to £417m, on sales up 13% to £6.1 billion. On Friday GKN’S shares closed at 212.5p, valuing the company at £3.3 billion.

And the Welsh Assembly First Minister, he should be remembering that GKN was spawned in 1759 when the Dowlais ironworks opened, he should be asking the question "... how many new jobs will GKN bring to Wales", it would be high value employment ............, the problem is we haven't been growing skills, instead we wasted a decade or more building an impoverished people (nation building) rather than fitting them for the future !

For how much longer can we continue to place our trust in those without vision ...........

More good news from Westminster ..........

A GROUP of City financiers has announced plans for a chain of more than 2,000 schools, 10% of the state system, with profits shared among staff in the style of the John Lewis retail chain.  Clarendon Academies, which would be the largest school group in the country, has been given approval by the education department to work with schools and is in talks with three of them.

The schools would be expected to generate a surplus, with half going to teachers in the form of benefits such as additional pension contributions, and help with housing costs. The rest would go to a central charity to fund building projects at the schools. Investors, who include unnamed wealthy individuals, would receive a fixed return on money lent to the venture.Clarendon plans to combine the traditional academic curriculum of independent schools with the centralised administration of former local education authorities (LEA), with efficiencies generating a surplus from government funding. The best state sector anti-truancy policies could, for example, be combined with a private-school approach to sport.

Clarendon has been set up by Nigel Brassard, an investment banker, and Edwin Richards, a private equity investor, and its educational programme devised by Martin Stephen, former high master of St Paul’s, the £18,825-a-year boys’ school in London, and Philip Limbert, executive head of Invicta, a girls’ grammar school in Maidstone, Kent, and Valley Park, a nearby comprehensive.Stephen said: “We are trying to broker a compromise between the ethic of the independent schools, which is very traditional, and the clout of the old LEA.”  Running state schools for profit is controversial and opposed by the Liberal Democrats. A contract won by the Swedish company IES to run a free school in Suffolk is one of the few examples.

... unfortunately the schools will not be crossing the Dyke, apparently there is a red and green line drawn in the political sands of Wales.

... and more good news for tenants of Social Housing ...

A massive £75,000 discount is proposed ............. another red and green line in the sand, England only I'm afraid.

Plaid on Sunday Politics ...

... are as together as granulated sugar:

The candidates on Nuclear:

• Leanne (switch the lights off) Wood.
• Lord (the lights are on with Wylfa ) Elis-Thomas
• Elin (what lights) Jones

The King is dead, long live the Queen (of Plaid), happy days ..............

... and then the poltroon ...

... of Plaid and his merry band plumb new depths and call the patriarch of Plaid Dafydd Elis-Thomas a liar .............. ,

... the poor man must realise he has them frightened witless, and is it surprising when Dafydd is pitted against two of the most inept Plaid politicians possible, Jones and Wood were little more than mediocre parish councillors during the TV discussions at the link above.

The forlorn hope of separatist brothers, Les Enfants Perdus, are stamping their dainty feet in temper reminiscent of none other than .....

.... Rumplestiltskin of the Grimm Brothers,

Poor Dafydd, his crime was to express the reality that nuclear power is a fact of life, something the buffoons of Plaid cyberspace are unable to accept, the vast majority of people prefer being able to switch on the lights when they get home ...




... we watch and wait to see the spectacle of MH stamping so hard that his foot becomes as embedded in the ground, as his mind in the fantasy he weaves of grasses greener etc. etc. etc ........ we also await any growth on his upper lip, we are sure it will resemble someone from history of ignoble reputation, he was a nationalist .......

Star gazers note Jupiter ...

... , the Bringer of Jollity is setting in the west, whilst in the east Mars, the Bringer of War, is rising, closer to home Syniadau compares Slovenia with Wales in an attempt to convince the Plaid converted that Wales could go it alone.


MH of Syniadau, the "Bringer of Stupidity", wrote "Those who argue against independence for Wales say that we can't afford it.".


Wrong, those who say no to Plaid, that's more than 9 out of every 10 people, say no because we are not interested in what is on offer;  from wannabe Plaid leader Wood it is a return to 1940's socialism, from the other 3 it is "much ado about nothing"; the argument might better said "Wales cannot afford Plaid" or "Wales doesn't share your views".


Peter Black wrote yesterday of Plaid navel gazing, he might like to lookup Slovenia, in amongst the current depression found within its borders there is a major success, it is with education, Slovenia has 99.6 per cent literacy and the Programme for International Student Assessment, coordinated by the OECD, currently ranks Slovenia's education as the 12th best in the world and 4th best in the European Union, being significantly higher than the OECD average, significantly higher than we achieve in Wales.

Something to work at Mr. Black, and your chums.

Perhaps, ...

Professor Sir Mansel Aylward said on today's BBC Wales Politics Show ...

"We're not going to get many more chances - in the past we had plenty of money and perhaps we spent it wrongly,"

If the NHS in Wales were a work of art, aesthetics might conclude it not worthy to be viewed in the worlds top galleries, The Louvre would say 'non' and The Deutsche Guggenheim might cry "nien";  whilst in Wales the public it should be serving is reticent in its public condemnation, and our political representatives are lounging at the Cardiff Bay club for useless rhetoric, oblivious to the reality of the situation.

Might we apply a criteria to politics as we do with a painting, could we call for quality ............

What did Bethan Jenkins mean when ...

... when she said:

Any major cuts in BBC Wales' provision will be a severe blow to attempts to increase public awareness of our national structures and democratic institutions.

... and:

The BBC's news coverage in Wales has particular importance due to the shortage of media sources here".

In regard to the shortage of media coverage, this is a "Cnut" moment,where Jenkins is attempting to hold back the waves of public indifference to her political preferences.  The shortage of media reflects a public rejection of what she sees dear to the political process, the public of our 21st century just wish to be entertained, who watches Panorama when there is "Mock the Week" being televised, people prefer to laugh than cry.

I have a certain sympathy with the apparent lack of awareness of structures and institutions by the public, it is manifest every election.  Rhodri Morgan might have had an answer to this particular issue through the Welsh Baccalaureate, but by choosing it as a senior qualification he lost the plot, if it had been part of education from senior year 1, almost every pupil would leave school with what could have been a meaningful qualification, and along the way, with careful teaching, an understanding of political Wales.

Brutal and moronic Iran, ...

... that's how Tristan Jakob-Hoff described the current regime that intends to execute a man because of his beliefs.

Youcef Nadarkhani a Christian pastor has refused to renounce his faith to escape a death sentence pronounced by an Iranian court.  When the court gave Youcef Nadarkhani, 34, a third and final chance to avoid hanging, but he replied: "I am resolute in my faith and Christianity and have no wish to recant".

As an atheist I find the events incredulous, the mystical past of the middle east holds as much credence as do the tales of Arthur and the Round Table, although as a human being I defend the rights to have a belief system, just don't even think of bringing your evangelism to my home ...

...wow, am I so different to the Iranian Islamic priesthood, well the Jehovah's Witness or Mormon missionary who knocks on my door won't find me at all interested, but they will not be asked to recant, neither will there be the alternative option of being assisted with the last great leap of faith.

So the only difference between a Caerphilly door and the Iranian courtroom is the level of violence offered to the missionary. There has to be more, we are after all civilized in our secular world;  but how civilized is it to refuse the offer of an explanation of another persons belief, albeit in mystical terms.

By turning our back on the other view, we often use an expression such as "lets agree to disagree" or "... but I defend your right ...", and slot the event into the tolerance bag, and this is where we become less than honest, we should always challenge opposing views or the unproven hypothesis, along the way we can maintain the dignity of those who sit opposite.


The dishonesty practised by the Iranian State is founded on its fear of debate and fomenting internal opposition from the people of Iran, here lies the real reason Youcef Nadarkhani is going to be executed ...

In 2009, he challenged the regime’s insistence that all schools should teach Islam. He was arrested in October that year and has been imprisoned in Rasht ever since. He was sentenced to death for apostasy by a court in Rasht last year.

Well at least we are able to voice our disent in Britain, or are we ...

Australia might give Wales a snapshot ...

... of the future where politics controls the media, to wit ...

An Australian political satire has been condemned by monarchists and MPs after depicting the Prime Minister having sex on the floor of her office while draped in the national flag. 

Commentators and members of the public expressing their opinion on newspaper websites were also upset with the show with some saying its depiction of the home life of the country’s first female leader was offensive and sexist

“Rude, negative, abusive, disrespectful and now grubby,” a viewer named Andrea Moore wrote on The Australian national newspaper’s website.

 

A Liberal MP said the program degrades the office of the prime minister, and called for a rethink of funding of the national broadcaster, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

I cannot imagine a scene where Carwyn was similarly displayed, nor in fact the other political leaders of the Wales Assembly, all draped under the "Red Dragon", not necessarily together, what I can imagine are similar attempts to push political fingers in the media pie were it devolved;  there is sufficient evidence this type of activity has occurred between WAG and S4C in the recent past.

ABC responded with ...

“If it’s okay for others to drape themselves in our flag for all manner of occasions, I really don’t see why it can’t be draped over our prime minister as a symbol of love,” the spokesman said.

I wonder how a devolved "BBC Wales" would show the First Minister if a political sword hung over its head, not a pretty vision to contemplate.

... for tolerance, I couldn't advise Jack's view of ...

... the world, in particular the relationship between Wales and the rest of humanity.

For the latest diatribe you might hop across to his blog, though I would warn it is not for the faint-hearted.

He writes in one paragraph ....

... hate filled and intolerant, and he is not alone. intolerance

Just the other day I was sent an email with a single embedded image ...

... obviously he lives in a different reality, possibly the Discworld of Terry Pratchett, there is a downside, he works for an assembly member who must by definition approve of his particular intolerance, will the A.M. approve of "kickings" in the wider world I wonder.  Is it hate filled or intolerant, I'm not sure, when comparing his words with those of Jack I see a certain similarity ......

It was a big mistake when Margaret Thatcher ...

... caved in to Gwynfor Evans, it's always a mistake to capitulate to a bully, and today there is a similar set of circumstances in Wales concerning the TV channel created in the wake of Evans threat to starve himself to death.

Today Plaid Cymru has voted in its annual Autumn conference to support those people who choose not to pay their TV license fee, in protest at the reorganisation of S4C and its funding.  In perspective, the basket case that is S4C has wasted 10 years and a £ Billion of taxpayer funds producing a second rate service that few people are attracted too, it is in desperate need of reform.

But this is not the big issue, S4C is a side-show, for Ms Evans (Wales’ Plaid MEP) it is alternative government brought about by demonstration and protest, and it is a precursor for the real Jewel in the Crown, the BBC, in particular, BBC Wales.  Listen to the "separatist agenda" shouting the odds, calling for the management of BBC Wales and broadcasting in general to be brought under the wings of politicians in Wales, a parasitical relationship between politics and media as found during the life of S4C (where politics include pressure groups).

And the $ million question, "why is it so important to Plaid Cymru to gain control over broadcasting in Wales ?"

... it's the only way the separatist agenda can peddle their wares at minimal cost, that is subsidised by the taxpayer, and the pot of gold they see at the end of their particular rainbow, the TV licence fees paid by households west of Offa's Dyke.

So when the protest begins in earnest, fine the protesters the maximum, then send them to jail when the fine is not paid, and the BBC, the peoples of Wales do not want the broadcasting vision of the separatists, we are quite happy with that modernity, liberalism, and democracy that the BBC brings into our homes each day.

What is the point of meaningless ...

... questions, dreamed up by BBC staff searching for bad news ?


... to wit ...

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION REQUEST. THE TOTAL NUMBER OF HOURS LOST DUE TO HOSPITAL TURNAROUNDS ABOVE 20 MINUTES. TURNAROUND BEING WHEN A&E NOTIFIED BY AMBULANCE CREW THAT PATIENT HAS ARRIVED TO PATIENT BEING HANDED OVER.

... and the bad news ...


BBC Wales health correspondent Arwyn Jones concludes that because there has been a notional rise in the time it takes ambulance staff to hand over patients to hospital staff there is a burdensome cost to the NHS in Wales, his research is published here, check the table, the average handover time from ambulance is ....


.... less than 20 minutes, I believe there should be an applause at this point for the ambulance service staff, but not from the buffoons at BBC Wales, the reporter has written ...

... the total number of hours lost in Wales due to hospital turnarounds above 20 minutes has increased from 37,712 hours in 2008-2009, to 54,476 hours in 2010-2011.

What is he implying, a level of incompetence possibly, or are the staff on a go-slow, it's a bullshit story from a bullshit organisation, the NHS in Wales hasn't an additional cost of  £10 million, what it has in reality is ...


... additional effort by the ambulance and A&E hospital staff to meet the demands of the public, and I say this with a certain confidence, because everyone gets treatment.


Maybe the reporters at BBC Wales should get out more, sit alongside people who actually work for a living rather than looking for a story where a story doesn't exist, paid for by the very same people they look to criticise.


They might also consider reading Robert Pirsig's MOQ, and pass it around the political reporters, they are in dire need ...

Our very own Wacky Races, with our very own ...

...  Dastardly and Muttley, one from Westminster the other from Cardiff's Bay of Plenty, both are agitating for something that already exists, something that is funded to the gunnel's by the poor taxpayer, but unlike Pobol y Cwm there isn't an audience big enough to suit their political egos, ...

Ego is a Latin word meaning "I", cognate with the Greek "Εγώ (Ego)" meaning "I", often used in English to mean the "self"

... not satisfied with the current Radio Cymru, not satisfied with the £80+ million annual budget of S4C, what exactly does the first of this dynamic Plaid duo want, to quote Bethan Jenkins ...

WELSH language current affairs programmes should be as important to the BBC as output in Hindi and Arabic, Plaid Cymru AM Bethan Jenkins has urged.

... I'll let others decide whether she is "Dastardly" or "Muttley", myself I would suggest the minorities she uses as examples would be very pleased to have a dedicated channel with the funding S4C currently receives, indeed the £billion spend on S4C during the last decade should have produced a world class welsh language service, it didn't.


What the desperate duo want is a soap box for free, but there's no such thing as a free lunch, someone might let them know.  Who is the other half of our very own wacky race duo .............

When Jonathan Edwards, Plaid MP and Westminster rabble-rouser ...

... calls for greater investment in existing Welsh TV services, he is calling to the nationalist faithful.  He is saying ...

"That means stopping the cuts being made to S4C and BBC Wales and giving ITV Wales the scope for improvements.  Wales must have a national television service worthy of the name, with quality programming that represents us as a nation."

He continues the rhetoric ...

"Welsh is an everyday language amongst audiences across Wales, and this must be reflected in the television services which they receive.  Our priority here in Wales, though, must be improving and developing the level of Welsh news and current affairs rather than furthering the ill considered agenda of a Westminster minister."

This ill considered agenda is no agenda at all, Westminster believes the UK would benefit from local TV coverage, and the envisaged TV has to be self financing ... and that could be a problem, who wants to sponsor current affairs on "TV Swansea" when there is an opportunity to sponsor "Four Weddings and a Funeral" ... on ITV.

The bottom line for the separatist at work at Westminster is he wants three terrestrial channels ported to a Welsh platform working at the behest of and directed by the politics of Welsh Nationalism. Not once does the man offer a financial model to pay for his proposed extravaganza, he would like his scheme paid for by the taxpayers of Britain ....

.... in a world of shrinking budgets, the nationalists would expect a larger share, in the world of television they would like a louder voice, but only if it in Wales ...

Plaid has looked into the abyss, and ...

... the abyss has looked right back.  The abyss that looks back is British politics, Plaid politico has become just another political party of the left in Britain, fortunately for Britain, and unfortunately for Plaid, Britain has the Labour Party warts and all.

With Plaid politico relegated to the backwaters of North West Wales, there remains Plaid buffoonery, the party in the park, the pig in a poke that appeals to the disturbed, the "Separatist Agenda".  The separatist agenda is the wedge that has begun the process of destruction for the Plaid Cymru of 2011, what will rise phoenix like out of the ashes.

I have a single source within Plaid politico, and this source confirms that moves are being made by the buffoonery to change the rules that only allow an elected member of the party to lead Plaid Cymru, it is understand that during the autumn conference a move to change the constitution will be made.

The preferred candidate of the buffoonery is ner do well "Price of the USA", there is of course a fan club for the man, Bethan Jenkins and Leanne Wood to name two politicians and the political journalist Betsan Powys whom many believe to be a closet nationalist on first name terms with MH the buffoon in chief amongst Plaid political blogs, in the wings we can find ex-plaid chair John Dixon who might be considered the early catalyst for the Plaid disintegration when he resigned the chair.

Peter Black highlighted the poor quality of Plaid politicians earlier today, when he highlighted our erstwhile Plaid politician Bethan Jenkins calling Martin Shipton by the name of Matt Withers, she was twittering at the time, could that be the excuse of a twit.

For those whose studies did not include Nietzsche, he's a tricky sucker at the best of times, his abyss is explained to us normal mortals as ...

"The abyss looks back at you means that when you begin to know something that is fundamentally different from yourself, you take a piece of it with you and it changes you."

Plaid has changed and the young turks want it back.